What Impact Does Giving a Family Gift Have in a Child’s Life?

A few years before he had a family, Biswanath was involved in a terrible road accident. His right leg was badly injured and he was taken to the hospital immediately. But his relatives didn’t rely on the expert doctors and took him to a local herbal healer instead.

The herbal healer provided the wrong treatment and used unscientific ways to join the injured man’s thigh bones. Biswanath lost his ability to walk or run. Many years have passed since that devastating accident, and Biswanath still struggles to walk or stand for long.

After his accident, Biswanath lost all his expectations for life. He couldn’t find a job due to his weak leg. He married a woman named Sumi, and they had their only child, Sumonto, shortly after.

Biswanath struggled to provide for his family. He began to sell marijuana. The dark side of life grabbed him.

“I had no other option [but selling marijuana] to survive other than selling my land. I am a disabled man. My right leg is almost paralyzed. I can’t walk or stand for long. No one hired me for a job. But I had to survive with my family at any cost.”

Biswanath doesn’t like to talk about how he used to sell marijuana or how much he made because it still wasn’t enough to send his son to school. He did not want his son to become a marijuana seller like himself.

Mission schools are popular in Bangladesh. No or low tuition, good teachers, a nice environment and a free supply of books have made the mission schools popular among people in remote communities.

When one of our child development centers opened at the local church, Biswanath and his wife saw it as nothing more than a Christian mission school. But it offered an opportunity for Sumonto to get a free education, and his parents grabbed it.

Over the last four years, Sumonto and his father have gotten to know the church as well as our staff and program. Sumonto receives better educational opportunities through the center than he would through any other school in the community. He receives tutoring and all the educational materials (books, copies, pencils, etc.) he needs, including his school uniform, from the center.

Sumonto’s school fee is no longer a problem for his father because his sponsorship pays for it regularly. Sumonto’s parents are grateful that the center even provides lunch for their son and takes care of all his medical needs.

Biswanath was happy for his son, but the bigger changes began to take place as the generosity of Sumonto’s sponsor grew and he provided a monetary family gift.

Our church partners never hand over cash gift money to the families. Instead, they make purchases according to the need of the sponsored child and family.

In Bangladesh, most families ask that domestic animals are purchased with the family gift money. Domestic animals are very useful because selling milk or eggs creates an opportunity for the family to earn extra money.

Biswanath requested that the church staff buy them cows with their designated gift money. They bought six cows.

Every day Biswanath sells three liters of fresh milk and earns around $1.30. This little income is a great help. He quit selling marijuana. The center director advised — and rebuked — Biswanath several times about this illegal business. Through continuous counseling with the director, Biswanath changed his ways.

“I never imagined that my son would ever go to school and have an education. The church made it possible. My son is now receiving a good education, food and other benefits like other capable families in our village. The church, along with Compassion, is taking care of my son. Not only that, but because of the gift from Sumonto’s sponsor, we now have a way to earn for our family. This helped me to get rid of the worst business.”

Subsequently, the family sold three of their cows and bought a little piece of land where they started a small shop. Biswanath’s older brother is running that shop and gives a share to Biswanath. With the love and generosity of Sumonto’s sponsor, two families have benefited.

The shop sells herbal products (leaves, mixtures, oils, fruit skins, tree skins, etc.) and spices. Biswanath’s brother, who was previously unemployed, now earns a little that he can contribute to his family.

If you sponsor a child or teen, sending a family gift is easy through your online account or on the Compassion app. Your generosity can help the family you’ve chosen to walk alongside through sponsorship in a life-changing way!

I just had to tell someone of the joy that I am feeling today. I received my first letter from my child today. I now know of the dreams that she has and I know a little about her family. Writing will now be much easier. I want to be a really good sponsor and I know that starts with prayer and fasting. Thank you for listening.

Hi MJ! Congratulations on receiving your sweet girl’s first letter! I hope you enjoy building a wonderful relationship and showing the love of Christ to Meskerem. Thank you so much for choosing to change her life forever through your love and support!

I just started to sponsor a child from Ethiopia. I want to send him and his family a family gift, so that they can buy some livestocks to generate income. But then not sure if they have resources to raise domestic animals in Southern Ethiopia. They might use it for immediate needs. How much should I send for them to fulfill their basic needs plus buying 1 or 2 livestocks (chickens or goats).

Hi Jenny! Thank you so much for wishing to bless your child and his family in such a tangible way! You are more than welcome to send a gift and recommend that it be used for livestock. Please write this designation in the memo line of your check or in the special instructions on the website. Here are some estimates for livestock in Ethiopia:

Thank you Jenny and Susan. My child is also in southern Ethiopia and I wanted to send her family a monetary gift. May I ask will the church center my sponsored child is with help them to make a wise decision in fulfilling their needs? I havent yet heard back from my child and I feel a hesitation in designating how the gift should be used, when I do not really have an idea of their needs as of yet. My hope is that the church there will guide them, is this correct? Thank you very much.

Hi MJ! Yes, the church staff will absolutely guide the family in using the gift for the greatest need that they have at this time. That’s what I personally love about sending monetary gifts to bless a child and their family. It not only meets their immediate needs, but it also gives them an opportunity to learn good stewardship and how to spend money wisely, efficiently, and stretch it as far as they can. It’s a very important skill and value and we hold integrity very highly. We have trained our staff to help them in their decision and then you’ll receive a thank you letter within six months letting you know how your gift was used.

Thank you Emily I look forward to sending a gift to my sponsored child’s family. I do apologize that if I would have read just a few more paragraphs down in the blog you answered this very same question for another sponsor but I missed it. Thank you for the reply.

Hi Jenny! Thank you so much for sponsoring Wogayehu! We are so excited for your relationship with him and appreciate that you want to bless his family in such a tangible way! You can send a gift anywhere from $25 up to $1,000 and the staff at his center will help your boys family make a wise decision on how the gift should be used and they’ll use it for their greatest need right now. Prices for animal purchase vary per country, as do what kinds of animals would be most appropriate for your child’s family. You can see an estimated cost of gifts in Ethiopia, here. If choose to help them purchase an animal, please know that the project leadership will work with the family to ensure what kind of purchase will be most appropriate and within six months you’ll receive a thank you letter letting you know how your gift was used.

Thank you so much for this blog of LOTS OF INFORMATION that I needed to know. I’m so glad that you do this. I have read so many of the blogs and it’s very informative and does help a great deal!! Thank you so much for doing this.

Greetings, I have been blessed with enough funds to send a family gift of a large amount. My question, is it better to send a one time large gift for the year or split it up into maybe four family gifts during the year. This is all new to me. God Bless.

Hi David! What a blessing that not only God has provided this opportunity for you, but also that you have chosen to use it to invest in your child’s family! Thank you so much 🙂

First off, just as a reminder, family gifts can be sent in the amount of anywhere from $25-$1,000 within a years period. I personally would suggest sending one larger family gift rather than spread them out. The reason for this is because we do limit sponsors to sending a family gift only once per year because it’s a larger gift than the others. We discourage sending multiple family gifts throughout the year for a couple of reasons. We have seen that this can cause a family to become used to and dependent on these gifts and begin to schedule their lives around the confidence that their sponsor will be sending them an extra gift. We want these families to be released from poverty and become self sustaining. If they receiving consistent gifts throughout the year, it can hinder this opportunity for them to learn and grow in becoming self sufficient. It may also be extremely difficult or discouraging to them when they stop receiving these gifts from you. Even though, it was only the end of your planned extra giving that you were able to send, they may take it and wonder if they made you upset or question if they did something wrong to stop receiving these gifts. Another thing to consider if you send multiple large family gifts throughout the year is that people and gangs in the community may start to notice and begin targeting your child’s family. For the families protection, this is another reason we limit the amount of gifts that can be sent.

Your child’s family will be so blessed by your generosity and kindness! Sometimes, a family gift is just what your child’s family might need to fix their leaky roof or buy a door with a lock on it, or a plot of land that will be an income generator for them and ultimately pull them out of economical poverty! They may purchase livestock or invest in starting a business! God knows exactly what they need and our staff will help them make a wise investment on how best to steward the gift you’ve given them. However they use it, you’ll receive a thank you letter six months later, letting you know how it was used! You’ll also receive a photo along with your letter if you send a gift over $60 :).

Hi, Emily! Thank you for the tips that are very informative and desired.
Every time I write letters to my children, I’m sometimes tempted to ask them frankly what their families need and that way, I can send them gifts with the amount they need in accordance with their necessity.
Having studied rural development and actually lived in developing nations, I know it is an unwise thing to just hand them cash and the result is both ineffective and disastrous.
True, we do not want to create dependency in a child we serve as well as envy from their next-door neighbors.

The minimum family gift is $25. How much does that really help? We have children in India, Honduras and Sri Lanka. We cannot do the $100 per family, but just dont understand how much $25 can do for a family. Thank you.

Dani, in some places the average family income is only $25. If you think about how much an extra month’s wages one month would mean to a family, this amount means a lot. I’ve seen families purchase few pieces of clothing or a whole bag of rice and several cooking items for $25. In most places, $25 goes a long way.

How do you know how much will help a family? I don’t have a lot of discretionary income, but would like to give a gift that would be a blessing to the family. I am sponsoring a young child in Ghana, Africa.

Hi Julia! Thank you so much for your desire to bless your child’s family despite your current financial situation. Please know that any gift you decide to give, will be a blessing for them. Our project staff will meet with them and discuss the best way to use your gift and they will use it for the greatest need at that time. I always encourage sponsor’s to prayerfully consider how much to give and whatever the Lord lays on your heart, will help them so much :). Whether you are able to give a gift of $25 or a gift of $1,000; God is able to take what you’re able to give, and multiply it for His glory!

I’m glad I read through these comments! As a new sponsor I am trying to decide how much to send and how to split everything – so it was enlightening to think of the 90/10 split! I want my child to feel special to me, but not at the expense of his family! Reading all of these comments helped me sort it out – thanks!

I’m a brand new sponsor of a darling little boy in Thailand. I’m glad I found this page. It opened my eyes and I too will definitely send to the family as well. I want to help the entire family, not just my dear little Peerawit (my sponsored child’s name). I know the father makes about 42 dollars a month and wow. I’ll do what I can. I only make 700 a month myself (USA dollars) but I went without work for 2 years. Though I had government aid, I think of Peerawit and others who don’t even have that chance.

I’m going to send what I can to the family. I wonder how long it takes to get to them? Either way, I’ll gladly give what I can out of each of my paychecks. I’m honored to help like this.

I sent a family gift of $300. I got a photo of the things they bought – mattresses for my sponsored child and her twin, a microwave oven, and lots of food and shoes and school supplies. I was like “Wow” they really needed a lot of stuff. And in the photo was my sponsored child and her twin sister with big smiles on their faces! I felt like Santa Claus.

Thank you for all of the responses. I am a new sponsor and appreciate the advise. My child, Miguel in Peru, has 1 sibling and lives with both mother and father. I am excited to be able to send family gifts and will feel like I am really sponsoring a family not just one child.

I think that when people use the terms such as “a meager gift of $100” we must realize what the annual income is in these areas. For the woman who is sponsoring a child in Ghana, I am as well, and I know in my child’s packet it states that the family’s income is around the equivalent of $32/mo, so a $100 gift would be like an ENTIRE 3 MONTH SALARY!!! If thought of in these terms I think the gift is not meager, but enormous.

This is a great story. I’m currently trying to decide if a personal or family gift is better for our sponsored child Grace. It’s a meager gift of only $100 but it’s all we have to send at this time. I know that she has siblings but not sure if they are also sponsored or not. The biggest question now is if this sum of money is enough to provide the family with nutrition or an income producing resource in Ghana?

Absolutely, $100 is NOT “a meager gift” at all! In fact, it’s probably about half a year’s income to a family in Ghana – it is more than an half a year’s income to my family in Rwanda! Yes, it’s usually BETTER to send a family gift instead of a personal gift as this helps the parents/father maintain their pride within their own family, instead of “their child’s sponsor taking care of their family”. Here’s what I would do with $100…I’d send a child gift of $10 and a family gift of $90 and that way it is special to the child you sponsor as well as blessing the entire family. ALSO, please remember that in some countries, (ESPECIALLY IN AFRICA!), families are only allowed to have ONE of their children in a center/project, which means that the siblings are already doing with much less than the sponsored child. To give to the FAMILY ensures that everything is shared and more equally distributed. How would it feel for ONE child in a family to receive a huge amount of $100, while the parents could barely feed the family and the other children never get a gift at all?!? Things to think about that I didn’t even realize were true until I had been sponsoring a child with four siblings for YEARS! I wish I could go back in time and un-do all of the mistakes that I didn’t realize I was making by sending gifts of more than $20 to my child, while her family was literally starving most days. Thankfully, my little girl still spent her money on hens and goats and flour and sugar and cooking oil and things that the whole family usually benefitted from, but to think that she was the ONLY one in the family to EVER receive new clothes or new shoes in many years just broke my heart when I found out. Can also cause jealousy and resentment among siblings, when our intention was only to help.

This is always my question also… would a family gift I may send
be enough to get anything that they would want to get? I have no idea what my family would need and if I knew that, I could feel more enthused to send a monetary gift for them to get that item.

Even if you send the minimum family gift of $25, that can still purchase a dinner (or two) for 5 here in the USA if you spend the money carefully. In countries where are children live, the money can go much farther to purchase food, clothing, housing, school fees. I imagine that what we consider needs may not be what someone in poverty considers needs (yes to food, water, shelter, but I consider a bed a necessity rather than a luxury). I would send a modest family gift and then see what they purchase with it. If it is food or clothing, then I would consider that they have quite a few needs, but those are the most pressing as purchasing something to improve their home, generate income, pay school fees are things only one does after the most basic needs are met . Athough I consider those other items quite important, most people consider attending school, having a job and a kitchen table needs met only after you know you are surviving for the time being. Most children will not write what they would want or need for cultural reasons, which is why it would be extremely difficult to find out what your child’s family needed from your child.

I sent a family gift, and they bought a stove with it. I was very humbled by this. Things like a stove that I take for granted everyday are precious items that some can’t afford. I am very grateful for Compassion for allowing us to help God’s children!

I don’t know what was more amazing, the story or the comments. I have never sent a “family” gift before, but it has repeatedly been on my heart, so I am inspired and on a mission! I do understand that small amounts by our standards are literally life changing in the developing world. That is one of the main reasons helping them means so much. My budget feels so tight sometimes that it is easy to believe I can’t do enough, but CI has taught me differently over the years. I am also disabled, so to hear of the fathers challenges with his leg touched me too.

It is incredible what can be bought with a family gift, my son sent one to his child in the Philippines and they were able to repair a window in their house that was broken and got new facilities for their bathroom, the mother said that she was also able to take Dex shopping for clothes and treat him to a meal at a restaurant. They sent us pictures and what a difference in their bathroom facilities before and after. Also a picture of them at the restaurant, Dex’s mother LIsa stated that Dex could actually eat till he was full and that made her happy and he even had an ice cream cone, plus the clothes she bought for him. The expression on Dex’s face in the picture of him at the restaurant is beyond description. There was also a picture of him wearing some of his new clothes, again there was a huge smile on his face. It takes so little to make such a big difference in the life of a family.

I am a sponsor right now of two kids. I could imagine clearly the picture of the bathroom that they had prior to the repair. Being a child who grew up with this kind of neighbourhood in the Philippines, I could relate clearly to the lack of sanitation and hygiene in most of the households. And how a small amount that we think invaluable could actually make a big impact to these households. Whatever small amount you think that is, give it to these families and you will bless them big time. God bless you.

We sponsor some girls through Compassion and we send them a monetary gift for their birthday and they always write back and tell us what they bought, but one of the girls, Neema in Tanzania always sends us a picture of herself with what she bought, she likes clothes so she usually buys and outfit along with chicken and rice which is her favorite meal.

Stories like this help me to understand my kids’ cultures better. My husband and I sponsor 3 kids from the same mission in Bangladesh and we work overtime to save money to send to them and their families. Their families have been buying cows and I kind of wondered, “why all the cows? Can’t they buy anything else?” We are beginning to understand that this is their colateral; we are used to putting our savings into a bank, not into cows. My Bengali families live in the country and probably have never used a bank. Maybe they are not even used to working with money, I don’t know. But the more stories that we read like this one tells us that they barter more with their animals than what we knew. This story also helped us to understand the value of 3 cows in relationship with purchasing a small plot of land. Now we are beginning to understand. My kids’ families are buying calves, allowing them to grow and become more valuable. Then they can allow them to increase in number, sell milk or the new calves, or sell the cows to purchase more land. (It is hard to get this kind of info out of a 7 year old child’s letter). This will allow their family to prosper and pass down some kind of inheritance to all the sibblings of my kids. One of our families took one of the gifts we sent to them and put in a well! We loved that, especially after seeing photos of 3rd world countries getting their drinking water out of poluted rivers! But this well will also save the women in the family many, many trips to the river for water. Plus with the cows they are now buying, they will not have to make extra trips to water their livestock. Without the well, maybe they could not manage all the trips, and this would limit the size of their livestock too. My husband and I are really blessed that we can make so much of a difference in the lives of several family members with so little of our savings. We are simply amazed at how far a bit of money goes with them and how much of a difference we make!! The first photos we got of our kids when we sponsored them were sad little faces in hand me down clothes. I don’t even know if the clothes they wore belonged to our children because they all looked like the same outfit – like maybe they were shared outfits that were borrowed for the picture. But the new photos we just got are such a transformation!!! Huge smiles on their faces and they look so sweet in brand new, colorful outfits! And the heart warming letters that they send us…. even though they are written by little kids, and they use such simple vocabulary, they say enough to express to us how much they and their families are grateful and the difference we are making in their little lives!! Thank you Jesus for allowing us to make a difference!!!

I am a single mother and don’t have much money, but God always provides what is needed! Last year I sent a family gift for both of my sponsored children and I was absolutely amazed when I saw what they were able to buy with what I considered such an insignicant amount. I was at first ashamed that I was not able to send more, but now I know that any amount is so greatly appreciated by them. My little girl in Uganda sent me a letter that she was able to buy pigs and a few other things with the money. She wanted to buy a cow but didn’t have enough money so she bought pigs instead.(she didn’t ask for more). I called Compassion and found out how much it cost to buy a cow in Uganda and was dumbfounded by how little it was. So, I saved up over the last year and finally saved the $150 that the family would need to buy a cow. I just received two letters from her. One was to tell me of the death of her pigs which really saddened her, but she was able to buy some hens…and I got the 2nd letter yesterday and the family bought their cow! I was so excited about this! She lives with a friend of her late father because she has lost both of her parents, and is now in a better position in this family because she is able to help provide things for this family, instead of being “a burden” on them. It never ceases to amaze me how God always make things work and happen just when they need to.

Once when I was sponsoring Mable in Uganda, I sent a family gift of $50. I was staggered when I received a thank-you letter from her telling me how their family had used it to buy a small piece of land in another district (county?) and they had all moved there! I had no intention of uprooting them, but land is valued so much that they made this choice. Previously, they had shared a house with another family.

I sent a very big gift last year after I visited my family…. They put some money in the bank and purchased 3 hogs/ pigs. I did some research and most hogs have 10 babies a year. If this is true I did the math and figured out that this will double the family’s yearly income for many years to come. I look forward to going back and visiting the family and seeing the hogs. It is humbling to think that I a small insignificant person in the worlds eyes, I’m not Bill Gates or Billy Graham…but I can have such a big impact on the family.

I give to the family once or twice a year, depending on what I can afford at the time. I was happy when Compassion offered this when sponsoring a child. I am still happy and now this story warms my heart.

I received two phone calls today stating that my sponsor child from Bangladesh was no longer available due to the end of the program in that area, but that they will be sending me a packet out to sponsor another child in Bangladesh. I have yet to call them(hopefully tomorrow). Has anyone received any similar phone calls or heard of anything happening in that area?

Hi Rachel,
I don’t sponsor in Bangladesh but am a sponsor and heard through people at OurCompassion (a social network for Compassion sponsors) that a Bangladesh center was closed. Compassion works locally with the churches to ensure that funds are being used appropriately and when they are not, it results in action. You might want to go to OurCompassion.org and sign up as you can talk with other sponsors from that child’s project and who will be able to give you more info as well.
God bless! Beth

What a wonderful story! What a special family they are. This reminds me of our boy in Haiti — I first sponsored his older brother, and he always bought a goat with the birthday and Christmas money I sent. When he grew old enough to leave the project, I asked for a younger sibling to sponsor. I was delighted to see on his child packet that this younger brother was now responsible for the family’s “herd of goats!”